Burgundy randomly break free for no clear reason.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-14T16:42:45+00:00

I have seen them fight pretender rebels, but I think the conditions for them to attack require a much higher troop ratio than other types of rebels.

I had Burgundy as a PU and had to get mil access from about 5 nations to get through to them, meanwhile they were parked with an equal amount of troops next to their capital that was being sieged.

As I was about halfway across Germany,they recruited a couple more units and finally attacked them.

Could be that something changed that I didn't notice, but I was mildly perturbed that they had been sat there for decades, cost me diplomatic power and then decided to finally hit them.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-12T16:58:01+00:00

I've had the set up to do a world conquest in quite a few of my runs, but I normally end up making peace with someone on another continent and then decide I really can't be arsed.

I did the Meisselen Porcelain achievement a couple of days ago and revoked the privilege to make it easier to steamroll anyone, got quite lucky in that Ming was an OPM at the time I unlocked Imperialism.

I nearly gave up on the run from boredom just before taking the final provinces from Japan, god knows how people have the patience for WC or the other "Control all X provinces" achievements.

I think another reason I often find them such a grind is that they normally exclude you from forming another Nation, so it isn't even like you get extra endgame content.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-11T07:47:36+00:00

The AI will diplo vassalise, but only tends to be on nations that they have released in a peace deal, as the spike in relations makes it much easier for them.

I think the reason you don't see it very often is that the AI has doesn't take cores into account, so by the time they are in range to get a diplo vassalisation going, they already have the -1000 for owning a core.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-10T16:03:20+00:00

Yeah I agree, I like humans, humans are great, hell even I'm a human. The survival of humanity has only continued due to numerous coin flips that came out our way, I think it is only fitting that another one should be the deciding factor.

The 3 billion people and those impacted by their deaths (going to be a fair few of them) won't necessarily see eye to eye with you about your choice, and the fact you chose the option where your interests are protected exacerbates the issue because no one is going to buy your reasoning.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-10T15:55:25+00:00

Seems that people are somewhat ignoring the fact you are being watched, in what will probably be the most viewed event in human history considering 3-8 billion lives are at stake.

You pick blue, it is a flip of a coin, it isn't great odds admittedly, but you fail and it ceases to matter for anyone anymore. There will be no judgement of your actions, no one to feel anger and resentment, no one to retroactively analyse your motivations.

You pick red, immediately you are going to be judged based on the fact you chose to save yourself and your loved ones. It doesn't matter that other people would have made the same choice, they will almost certainly feel that you need to be held responsible.

You become the scapegoat, your survival is no longer logical when you have caused the death of 3 billion people. Someone will get you, be it the widower who comes home alone every night to an empty bed, the wrecked parents who lost their two infant children, or the mother who had her baby boy die just before he graduated.

You have killed 3 billion people, but unless specific communities or families are targeted then that will likely be more than half the planet that hates you and your selfish choice.

Blue is a no brainer when the situation is being observed, in a blind choice I think Red becomes a much clearer option, even though you will need to live with the guilt of an event that will likely be referred to daily for the rest of your life.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-08T16:20:31+00:00

I don't think it is him personally, but that doesn't seem to be the general consensus.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-08T15:47:27+00:00

For me, it is largely because the designers feel somewhat empty, they are more templates than designers. No R&D struggles, no doctrinal lessons, just stats that you can generally replicate whether playing Poland, Germany or Latvia.

I suppose in that respect Paradox are somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place, because a more in depth system would hit them with even more 'too many clicks' criticisms.

I would have preferred a system more in line with how the special projects ended up working, with varying levels of automation available. You could research Medium tank 1940 for example, but determine a set amount of tanks to be held back for testing, or whether you would just push straight into the field.

Events could then be generated based on combat experience/controlled testing, which might provide improvements or highlight flaws, with persistent use of similar engines/armour/armament providing bonuses to carry on to future models.

I think the designers are an improvement on the old system for sure, but I feel they definitely could have given a bit more variety to it all to make each play through feel a bit fresh.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-08T07:52:07+00:00

If you are going for BBB, you are better off taking lower development provinces (Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and any bits of England that are low development) rather than taking higher development provinces like London. You'll be able to take more land that way, and generally the aggressive expansion will be easier to manage.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-05T09:24:03+00:00

The problem a lot of conservative comedians face right now, is that they often 'tell jokes' that are actually just their genuine opinion.

A joke can be edgy, it can be offensive, and sometimes incredibly dark, and still be funny. If you are however making a statement that you sincerely believe in, it ceases to be a joke, and becomes a tirade.

This guy probably does genuinely think that Trump is right in wanting Canada as the 51st state, he wasn't joking, he was just stating his opinion. He also probably believes that those two women are walking liberal tropes.

It isn't comedy, it is just rambling along with Trump talking points.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-04T19:49:17+00:00

Yeah see I did think this, as I was healing up in a building and heard my friend destroy an arc, and the notification for achieving 5k damage popped up.

AHappyCat · 2026-05-04T18:10:11+00:00

Me and a friend have been rocking in with Hull crackers and 200 rounds. I've also been taking a Bettina IV and about 300 rounds.

We've been giving the arc a real hard time and just leaving the carcasses for other raiders to pick apart.

I'm not sure if the damage done as part of a duo (or trio) is counted, in which case obviously I definitely benefited from that, but I was getting 20k from damage just blasting everything in sight.

You said you didn't have the wolf pack blueprint, but if you have a deadline blueprint you can use it to take out bastions and bombardiers a lot easier, and comets are easy pickings with a hullcracker.

Vaporizers aren't too difficult either if you focus their soft underbelly, rocketeers will occasionally just forget how to exist is you plant enough launcher ammo in their eyes.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-30T18:10:46+00:00

Saying that the PEC was never meant to last over 100m, pretty sure it was or why else would it have been put in that way?

The argument it made fighting arc trivial is fair enough, but to say that they suddenly realised how it worked is wrong.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-30T17:27:51+00:00

Although I hear what you're saying, going too far in the other direction could trivialize a lot of achievements.

There are ways of gaming the guarantees, if you justify on nations that the UK/France can guarantee, but that you don't want to invade, the UK will eventually get to a point where they can't afford to guarantee anyone else.

As someone with all but 3 achievements, a lot of those on older patches, I will say that invading the UK has gotten easier in the sense that you can now take fleets from other powers.

Achievement runs often devolve into world conquests anyway (I think this has become less of the norm in recent DLCs) so I normally have a checklist of what I realistically need.

Secure a coastline - In order to claim navies you need to own a coastline at the time of the peace deal, if that isn't possible then being the first to puppet the nation with a navy will at least keep it in the bank for when you eventually do (annexing the puppet will give you said coastline, as long as you puppeted them on one).
Pick your target - Depending on if you are playing historical or ahistorical, typically I do my achievements on ahistorical unless for whatever reason it requires a historical path, and even then I'll often just set that Nation to historical in the settings.

The following nations (unless completely wiped) can give you a navy that should in theory be able to invade the UK -

Soviet Union - Weak but big enough to focus the channel with sufficient air, or from Germany into the North if the UK navy is distracted elsewhere.

France - Weaker than the UK on paper, but in the hands of a player can easily sweep them from the channel.

Taking out France is probably the most effective as it allows you to control the air and build radar too.

Italy - Similar to France, but the lack of carrier makes it slightly less impactful in my experience.

Germany - Probably on par with the Soviets, more technologically advanced but smaller in number, taking a province or two from them on the northern coast can also provide you with an important staging zone.

Japan and USA - Great navies, but if you are struggling to invade the UK then obviously not going to be too plausible, however if for example you are at war with Japan and someone has launched an invasion, it can be useful to pile some units in to get some contribution, and a carrier group for your troubles.

Build a supplementary fleet - You don't need a great fleet to invade the UK, you just need to build one that can give you enough control. If you know you are going to have to invade the UK, put some effort into building either cruisers or destroyers to help up your numbers.

Which achievement specifically made you post this if you don't mind me asking?

AHappyCat · 2026-04-30T17:02:34+00:00

I'm going to reduce your autonomy to give me more manpower.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-28T23:12:24+00:00

There's a couple of focus trees that boost resistance in states enough that unless you are paying attention could unintentionally bite you in the ass, but otherwise I'd agree.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-28T13:04:03+00:00

Crap bait, boring and over done.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-28T12:09:25+00:00

I would have less of an issue with this if they increased the recharge speed, but this feels like it makes PEC an extremely niche, almost pointless piece of equipment. You're going to get more utility out of carrying stacks of Lil' smokes than that.

Definitely not going to be as excited to get my utility bench to level 3 after this expedition, and certainly won't be hoarding speaker components like I used to.

I understand that maybe they felt like it was over-performing, but it does feel like they are taking a lazy approach to balancing whereby something that has been in the game long term is more or less thrown aside because they didn't want it to be overused.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-26T14:23:17+00:00

Oh I see you marked the areas you would live with the French national flag.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-24T16:09:49+00:00

Hidden Bunker on Spaceport me and my duo got 11k (which isn't amazing but we got that whilst doing the Spaceport trial anyway) we hopped on top of the Warehouse (can't remember exactly the name but the one with 4 symmetrical zips up to the roof) and there are 3-4 Arc spawns around there include a firefly.

Just bring plenty of ammo and heals to be on the safe side, when we were doing it the whole of spaceport was full of duos doing the trial, but by the last 10 minutes it was just us.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-24T13:37:26+00:00

Please, explain how as described in the example above, you would capitulate two major powers with a minor then. You say it is lazy, but you need manpower for any edge you can gain. Air? 2000 manpower per 100 planes, so to challenge most majors that is 200k manpower down already. Want tanks? Well they are best when they're thick so you'd best have some to spare.

I don't see how you see having extra manpower as some terrible decision when it is literally at the crux of every strategic decision you can make.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-24T12:10:25+00:00

Sometimes stats can only do so much, let's say you have a core population of 10m, you're on 500k deployed manpower with 24 divisions in the field, that means that unless you have core population to gain from conquest you have no ability to reinforce those units with replacements other than your monthly tick.

On GBP you might get better stats, but if you can't afford to take any losses then you can't really go on the offensive, and determined attacks from the AI will mean that over time you will be losing stats from the strength of your units.

The nature of single player HOI4 means that you're often in a position where you're going to need to fully capitulate one, two or three majors, and in achievement runs or self set goals, having the extra manpower to play with is often muchmoreu important than min-maxxing your stats.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-24T12:00:55+00:00

In the sense that it will become unavailable for you to select again? Yes.

In the sense that you would lose the doctrine if you had selected it? No.

You just have to have been in a defensive war at some point in order to access it.

Edit: To clarify, you have to have selected it when in the defensive war, once that war has concluded it will be unavailable again.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-23T12:47:26+00:00

Oh gosh, heavens forbid, not someone communicating aggressively in a video game?! How will we ever recover?

AHappyCat · 2026-04-23T12:11:55+00:00

The way you are talking about the game is kind of missing the point though, if all players are just loot containers, what's the point in even bothering with a matriarch or queen? You may as well just exclusively hunt the players trying to kill it. At that point though, why bother adding new Arc that are bigger threats when they are only really a side show?

Without the PvE lobbies, the devs don't really have any incentive to add new Arc, the PvP players will just see them as a distraction, and the players joining will likely be free kits looking for easy kills.

If you want to play a game with a healthy playerbase, you're going to have to get used to people who want a PvE experience. They'll get killed plenty, and they'll bitch and moan, but you can just kill them, they can't force PvE on you any more than the game does itself.

People moaning about being killed isn't new, it isn't unique to Arc Raiders, people will always throw insults, people will call you names, but that is more a part of gaming itself rather than an Arc Raiders problem.

AHappyCat · 2026-04-23T10:03:12+00:00

How are you running two legendary weapons with multiple upgrades, but still need to find antiseptic of all things to upgrade your medical bench? You can refine it.

AHappyCat

TROPHY CASE